Safe Families for Children COO Profile

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October 2021
Safe Families for Children
Opportunity Profile
Chief Operating Officer
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Safe Families for Children

Organizational
Overview
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Families for Safe Children Families for Children (SFFC) hosts children and creates extended family-like support
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for parents who have nowhere else to turn through a community
of devoted volunteers motivated to keep children safe and families
together. SFFC is dedicated to family support, stabilization and, most
importantly, child abuse prevention.
Families for Children
Families for Children
Families for Children
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Founded in Chicago in 2003, Safe Families for Children (SFFC)
is a multi-site volunteer movement that gives hope and support to
families in distress. SFFC reframes how families are supported during
a crisis. Parents (“placing families”) voluntarily place their children
in safe, loving homes where they are cared for while the parents seek
to restore stability in their lives. Local communities of volunteers
(mostly through faith communities) provide resources and emotional
support to both the placing and host families throughout the hosting
arrangement. The SFFC movement is predicated on the belief that
the safety of children in our communities is the responsibility of all of
us, not just local child-welfare agencies, and that parents are the key
to providing that well-being for their children. Accordingly, SFFC
focuses on strengthening and supporting parents so they can be safe
families for their children.

What is the prevailing approach that needs disruption?
Public foster care: Safe Families desires to prevent child abuse (safety) and
decrease the number of children being forcibly separated from their parents
(family preservation). By doing so, public foster care will have sufficient resources
to intervene and support families who desperately need them.
Many families, even when they are doing ‘all the right things’ are just one crisis
away from major instability in their lives. Under-resourced communities leave
families in the throes of hospitalization, unemployment, incarceration, substance
abuse recovery, and other crises related to poverty without the resources and
support to care for their children. These children are then at risk for trauma,
abuse, and neglect. The foster care system is overloaded with an estimated
438,000 youth, 70% of which may not even need to be there. The number of
incoming children is outpacing the number exiting, with 270,000+ children
entering every year, more than half of which are never reunited with their families.
The prevailing approach to supporting this population is not working and the
situation is only getting worse. 37 percent of children across the US will be
subjected to a child welfare investigation prior to their 18th birthday and over 50
percent of black children will be reported1. On average, a child placed into the
foster care system will rotate between multiple homes before finding a permanent
placement. This disruption to the stability in their lives has adverse effects on
educational, social and behavioral outcomes.
Against this backdrop, Safe Families is challenging the prevailing approach of
foster care and demonstrating that when kids are safe and parents are supported,
forced removals of children from their parents can be reduced.
For more information, please visit www.safe-families.org.

Position
Overview
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Families for Safe Children Families for Children (SFFC) is looking for a mission-focused, strategic,
and process-minded leader with experience scaling an
organization and developing a performance culture among a group
of diverse, talented individuals. The COO must be a leader who is
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the successful COO will have the skills, sensitivity, and personal
Families for Children
confidence to tap into the power that each member of the team brings
to this mission. While it is essential that the COO bring efficient and
effective systems to increase the productivity of the organization, it
is also critical that the team retain the creative spark that drives Safe
Families to find alternative solutions for families in crisis.
Families for Children
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Families for Children
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Position
Responsibilities
The COO will have responsibility for all internal operations and will build and lead a strong national team
that will help SFFC expand its operations. He/she will have the following responsibilities:
• Working in partnership with the CEO, ensure implementation of the strategic plan and build new
structures, processes and approaches to achieve it
• Oversee integration of Market Based Management throughout the organization
• Serve as the internal leader of the organization:
• Coordinate the annual operations plan and budget
• Manage SFFC national team functions to ensure that all strategies are integrated and coordinated, chapter
needs are addressed, and innovations and best practices are identified and shared across the SFFC Alliance
• Lead the performance management process that measures and evaluates both the national team’s and
each SFFC chapter’s progress against goals; oversee and manage senior team work plans to ensure that
goals are being met
• Provide for all staff a strong day-to-day leadership presence; support an open-door policy among all staff
• Lead and manage the organization’s senior team. The COO will play a critical role in building and
leading the national SFFC team with responsibility and oversight for the following functions:
Oversight of Alliance and Licensed Affiliate Chapters– currently over 120 chapters
- Oversee new chapter launch, quality, and performance management plans
- Support and provide necessary resources to field operations
- Develop national-level SFFC partnerships to support site implementation, as needed
Training and Volunteer Mobilization:
Develop and deliver program and materials to ensure quality standards are met throughout all SFFC sites, including:
- Development and maintenance of on-line materials and coordination and production of web-based trainings
- On-boarding of new sites, and on-going training and alliance building across all sites
- Development and direct implementation of National conferences
- Maintain strong link with field staff; collect best practices and incorporate into training and culture building
- Program Development and enhancement
- Oversee implementation of fidelity and quality improvement efforts
- Maintain evidenced based status and secure Family First Approval
- Continue to monitor and improve parent and system impact
- Oversee implementation of research and external program evaluations to improve outcomes
- Oversee any legislative efforts that will facilitate the growth and impact of Safe Families
Marketing and Communications
- Develop and build SFFC brand; manage consistent use of brand across partners and sites
- Leverage strong social media and web skills to increase awareness of SF and engage stakeholders
- Develop strong engagement strategy and interface between stakeholders
Finance/HR:
- Manage the national SFFC budget and maintain SFFC accounting records
- Produce financial reports for CEO and board of directors
- Provide guidance to sites on local budgeting, as needed
- Oversee implementation of all HR strategies and processes in line with Market Based Management
Information Technology:
- Implement, and manage integrated technology and data plan to support coordinated performance management,
communications, and engagement strategies

Organizational
Structure
As Safe Families builds a national office to support growth of the movement, the current
strategic plan outlines the following growth over the next three years.
This national organization will have central roles and regional support
to train, oversee, and support sites and manage growth of the SFFC
movement. All positions in blue (with the exception of the CEO) are
new positions. This will be a significant opportunity for the COO to
build a team and put the structures in place to support rapid growth.
CEO
Development
COO
Program,
Development,
Research, etc.
Strategic Growth -
Church Volunteers
Communications &
Marketing
CFO & HR
Alliance Chapter
Director
IT

Key
Qualifications
As a prerequisite, the successful candidate must believe in the
core values of SFFC and be driven by the mission to catalyze communities of volunteers
via faith institutions that host children from families in crisis, and create family-like supports to
strengthen those families. The candidate should demonstrate a passion for breaking new ground to
lead social change. Experience working with churches is definitely a plus.
Beyond that, we are seeking a candidate that has proven experience in leading and scaling a multisite,
decentralized organization and executing against organization-wide strategic plans. The ideal
candidate will have a demonstrated ability to both lead and build the capabilities of a driven, bright,
diverse team. Additional requirements are:
Additional requirements are:
Results-oriented: successful track record of exceeding goals and a bottom-line orientation;
evidence of the ability to consistently make good decisions through a combination of analysis,
wisdom, experience, and judgment; high level of business acumen including successful P&L
management; the ability to balance the delivery of programs against the realities of a budget;
and problem solving, project management, and creative resourcefulness
Strategic Vision and Agility: ability to think strategically, anticipate future consequences and
trends, and incorporate them into the organizational plan
Capacity Building: ability to effectively build organization and staff capacity, developing a topnotch
workforce and the processes that ensure the organization runs smoothly
Leadership and Organization: capacity to enforce accountability, develop and empower topnotch
leaders from the bottom up, lead from the top down, cultivate entrepreneurship, and
learn the strengths and weaknesses of the team so as to put people in a position to succeed
Action-Oriented: enjoys working hard and looks for challenges; able to act and react as
necessary, even if limited information is available; not afraid to take charge of a situation; can
overcome resistance to leadership and take unpopular stands when necessary
General Management: thorough understanding of finance, systems, and HR; broad experience
with the full range of business functions and systems, including strategic development and
planning, budgeting, business analysis, finance, information systems, human resources, and
marketing
Solid educational background: undergraduate degree required; MBA or similar advanced
degree highly desired
Faith: Looking for a leader interested in leveraging their faith and shared values to build a
movement.

Additional
Details
Compensation
This is an outstanding opportunity for a highly motivated
professional to assume a pivotal role in the evolution of a fast-growing, highly respected
organization. We are seeking an individual of outstanding quality with a respected track record.
SFFC is prepared to offer a very attractive compensation package, including a competitive base
salary as well as health, 401(k), and vacation benefits.
Where is This Person Today?
The ideal candidate is currently working for an organization where
his/her primary responsibilities include operational, administrative, and financial leadership.
This person could come from a wide variety of backgrounds:
• Executive position at a non-profit
• Executive pastor in a multi-site faith institution
• Leader responsible for driving a social “movement”
• Private sector business leader with a demonstrated passion for social impact
Confidentiality
We fully respect the need for confidentiality of information supplied
by interested parties and assure them that their backgrounds and interests will not be discussed
with anyone, including the leadership of our client without prior consent, nor will reference
contacts be made until mutual interest has been established.
Process of Candidacy
Making the right selection in this Chief Operating Officer position is a
critical decision for Safe Families for Children. Jobfitmatters goes to great lengths to assure our
clients that the men and women we present as candidates for senior level positions are the most
qualified and experienced individuals we can find.
You do not have to jump through all of our application hoops to start a conversation about
this position, but soon after we establish a mutual interest, we need for you to format the
description of your experience in the following manner and answer the questions below. We
realize that this is a lot of information, but for the magnitude of this hiring decision, we need
to be able to provide Safe Families for Children with as much information as possible.
Thank you for your efforts.

Candidate
Next Steps
Resume
Please submit all materials in one document, preferably Word (.doc or
.docx) format. First, include a resume, incorporating the following information for each
position you have held for the past 10 years: Name of Company / Organization, Job Title,
Years in the position, Position to which you reported and positions that reported to you,
Primary responsibilities and achievements, and Reason for leaving.
Additional Information
Over the years, we have found that one can learn only so much
from the resume. In order to help us get a more complete picture of you and your
interest in Safe Families for Children, please provide us with responses to the following
questions:
1. Based upon what you have learned about this position from this document and any other
sources, what excites you most about the position with Safe Families for Children? Please
share what drives you to serve in an environment focused on the stabilization of families at
times of crisis.
2. If you have served as a senior level operations director in the past, please explain your role
in detail. Elaborate on how your role interacted with volunteers, if applicable. Tell about
your experience in/with similar nonprofit organizations, if any.
3. Please also provide the names and contact information (telephone numbers and e-mail
addresses) for four references who know you well enough to comment on your suitability
for the COO of Safe Families for Children. (References will only be contacted after we
have received your permission to do so.)
Submit this information to:
Tommy Thomas
JobfitMatters
Submit in one document or PDF
tthomas@jobfitmatters.com
In the subject line, please write ”COO-Safe Families”
Phone: (615) 261-4623

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Safe Families for Children
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Safe Families for Children
Safe Families for Children
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“Safe Families has hundreds of families
opening their homes. It is the largest volunteer
movement providing homes for children in the
United States.”
–Dr. David Anderson
Executive Director
Lydia Home / Safe Families Ashoka Fellow
Safe Families for Children
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Safe Families for Children
4300 W. Irving Park Rd., Chicago, IL 60641 • 773-653-2200
www.safe-families.org